士師記14:1-20

14:1 參孫下到亭拿，在那裡看見一個女子，是非利士人的女兒。
14:2 參孫上來稟告他父母說：「我在亭拿看見一個女子，是非利士人的女兒，願你們給我娶來為妻。」
14:3 他父母說：「在你弟兄的女兒中，或在本國的民中，豈沒有一個女子，何致你去在未受割禮的非利士人中娶妻呢？」參孫對他父親說：「願你給我娶那女子，因我喜悅她。」
14:4 他的父母卻不知道這事是出於耶和華，因為他找機會攻擊非利士人。那時，非利士人轄制以色列人。
14:5 參孫跟他父母下亭拿去，到了亭拿的葡萄園，見有一隻少壯獅子向他吼叫。
14:6 耶和華的靈大大感動參孫，他雖然手無器械，卻將獅子撕裂，如同撕裂山羊羔一樣。他行這事並沒有告訴父母。
14:7 參孫下去與女子說話，就喜悅她；
14:8 過了些日子，再下去要娶那女子，轉向道旁要看死獅，見有一群蜂子和蜜在死獅之內，
14:9 就用手取蜜，且吃且走；到了父母那裡，給他父母，他們也吃了；只是沒有告訴這蜜是從死獅之內取來的。
14:10 他父親下去見女子。參孫在那裡設擺筵宴，因為向來少年人都有這個規矩。
14:11 眾人看見參孫，就請了三十個人陪伴他。
14:12 參孫對他們說：「我給你們出一個謎語，你們在七日筵宴之內，若能猜出意思告訴我，我就給你們三十件裡衣，三十套衣裳；
14:13 你們若不能猜出意思告訴我，你們就給我三十件裡衣，三十套衣裳。」他們說：「請將謎語說給我們聽。」
14:14 參孫對他們說：吃的從吃者出來；甜的從強者出來。他們三日不能猜出謎語的意思。
14:15 到第七天，他們對參孫的妻說：「你誆哄你丈夫，探出謎語的意思告訴我們，免得我們用火燒你和你父家。你們請了我們來，是要奪我們所有的嗎？」
14:16 參孫的妻在丈夫面前啼哭說：「你是恨我，不是愛我，你給我本國的人出謎語，卻沒有將意思告訴我。」參孫回答說：「連我父母我都沒有告訴，豈可告訴你呢？」
14:17 七日筵宴之內，她在丈夫面前啼哭，到第七天逼著他，他才將謎語的意思告訴他妻，他妻就告訴本國的人。
14:18 到第七天，日頭未落以前，那城裡的人對參孫說：有甚麼比蜜還甜呢？有甚麼比獅子還強呢？參孫對他們說：你們若非用我的母牛犢耕地，就猜不出我謎語的意思來。
14:19 耶和華的靈大大感動參孫，他就下到亞實基倫，擊殺了三十個人，奪了他們的衣裳，將衣裳給了猜出謎語的人。參孫發怒，就上父家去了。
14:20 參孫的妻便歸了參孫的陪伴，就是作過他朋友的。

 Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. ² When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”

³ His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?”

But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.” ⁴ (His parents did not know that this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)

⁵ Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. ⁶ The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. ⁷ Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her.

⁸ Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey. ⁹ He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass.

¹⁰ Now his father went down to see the woman. And there Samson held a feast, as was customary for young men. ¹¹ When the people saw him, they chose thirty men to be his companions.

¹² “Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. ¹³ If you can’t tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.”

“Tell us your riddle,” they said. “Let’s hear it.”

¹⁴ He replied,

“Out of the eater, something to eat;
    out of the strong, something sweet.”

For three days they could not give the answer.

¹⁵ On the fourth^[a] day, they said to Samson’s wife, “Coax your husband into explaining the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to steal our property?”

¹⁶ Then Samson’s wife threw herself on him, sobbing, “You hate me! You don’t really love me. You’ve given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer.”

“I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother,” he replied, “so why should I explain it to you?” ¹⁷ She cried the whole seven days of the feast. So on the seventh day he finally told her, because she continued to press him. She in turn explained the riddle to her people.

¹⁸ Before sunset on the seventh day the men of the town said to him,

“What is sweeter than honey?
    What is stronger than a lion?”

Samson said to them,

“If you had not plowed with my heifer,
    you would not have solved my riddle.”

¹⁹ Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of everything and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger, he returned to his father’s home. ²⁰ And Samson’s wife was given to one of his companions who had attended him at the feast.

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    雖然參孫被奉獻為拿細耳人，卻是放浪不拘的行為，正如這裡所說，想取非力士的女人為妻。當然上帝故意讓他做一些反常的事情是有目的的，正如經文所說：「他的父母卻不知道這事是出於耶和華，因為他找機會攻擊非利士人。那時，非利士人轄制以色列人。」

    上帝藉由這事讓他和非利士人糾結不清，以至於讓他在這樣一個奇異的婚禮中，出的謎語被猜中，需要出三十套裡衣和外衣，就殺死了三十個非利士人！這樣的事情是出於耶和華，是上帝要藉著參孫做些教訓非利士人的事！

    怪不得保羅會說：「我們曉得萬事都互相效力，叫愛上帝的人得益處，就是按他旨意被召的人。」（羅馬書8:28）

   他更是說到：「凡事謝恩；因為這是上帝在基督耶穌裡向你們所定的旨意。」(帖撒羅尼迦前書5:18）

    這也告訴我們，不管發生什麼事，都有上帝的美意，我們都要心存感謝！不要用自己的想像來斷定事情的好壞，而是要將凡事交在上帝手中，凡事都會讓我們感受到上帝奇妙的恩典！